SONY PICTURES CLASSICS PRESENTS: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

For the better part of two hours we are taken on a surreal, bizarre, yet oddly entertaining psychedelic trip through Writer/Director Terry Gilliams wild imagination.

Gilliam sets up his fantastic journey with a game between Mr. Nick/the Devil (Tom Waits), and Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), who seems as old as time. The two engage in a soul capturing game, the first to five souls gets to keep Valentina (Lily Cole), the Doctors daughter. The Imaginarium forces individuals to choose between their wildest dreams, or the Devils wicked vices. Whichever path the soul chooses, good or evil, right or wrong, results in a tally for the Doctor or the Devil.

In this ultimate good versus evil morality tale we meet quite a few interesting characters. The goodhearted Anton (Andrew Garfield), who longs to make Valentina his wife. Dr. Parnassus, who operates the Imaginarium as a sort of lurid side show through the back alleys of what could be any industrialized city. Valentina, the beautiful object of everyone’s eye. The Devil, who uses all of his dirty tricks to cheat his way to victory. Percy (Verne Troyer), the confidant of the Doctor and Tony (Heath Ledger), a man with his own secrets to tell. Tony comes to the troupe under mysterious circumstances, and seems to level the playing field between the Doctor and the Devil. Tony modernizes the Imaginarium, and in short order has the Doctor one soul away from victory. The Devil does not take this lying down and quickly evens the score.

The film ultimately fails to deliver a coherent finale, which in hindsight may have been the point all along. Perhaps Mr. Gilliam planned it this way. *** from this mind-blown movie-goer

A final note. It is bittersweet to see Heath Ledger in his last on-screen role. He passed before filming was completed and his work was finished by three very talented men, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell who all do a solid job playing Tony. This movie belongs to Heath, and as Tony says in the film “Nothing is permanent, not even death.” We can use our imaginations to speculate the great things Heath could have done.